MAP academic features in world premiere at WWII site

T5 Tank Sound Project, a Sydney Festival first, has its debut this week at the Mosman Art Gallery Australia. 

Chris Caines, Senior Lecturer in Media Arts and Production and renowned Sydney-based sound artist, has four new site-specific artworks premiering at a secret Sydney WWII site. 

In partnership with Gail Priest and experimental, multi-disciplinary artists David Haines and Joyce Hinterding – Chris has used cutting edge audio technology to create surround soundscapes for a massive decommissioned military fuel tank hidden in Mosman.

A unique space with extraordinary acoustics, it was built for the Australian Navy at Georges Heights and the T5 Camouflage Tank is one of the most remarkable secret relics of Australia’s WWII infrastructure. Completed in 1942 and designed to deceive Japanese reconnaissance aircraft, the huge fuel oil tank (35m in diameter and 7m high) was a key link in the military supply chain. 

Now restored, the T5 Tank provides artists with a unique canvas and extraordinary acoustic possibilities for a site-specific sound and performance project that immerses the listener in a moving, sometimes overwhelming, sonic response to this extraordinary site, its dark history and its myriad possibilities.

Want to experience the T5 Tank Sound Project? Secure your ticketed live performance on Sun 20 January here, or drop in from 23–27 January to experience the recorded soundscape in this unique venue.

This project is supported by the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, National Parks and Wildlife Services, the Australia Council for the Arts, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Centre for Media Arts Innovation.